Loon Outdoors_Line Up Kit (Fly Line Cleaning Kit). I used the line cleaning tool and cleaner solution on two lines that I will be replacing after the trout season is over. So, this was a pretty stiff test as both lines were in rough shape.

The line cleaning tool is easy to hold and made it quite easy to apply the cleaning solution to the line. After drying overnight (as instructed), I buffed both lines with a cotton rag.

Several drops of the cleaner were enough to treat each line. I would expect this will last for quite some time.

Both lines showed marked improvement in sliding through the guides making it possible to shoot more line for long casts. After 2 ½ months both lines continued to perform well. Given that both of the lines were old and facing retirement, the line cleaning kit did a remarkable job of revitalizing the lines. I would highly recommend the kit.

As I write, it’s late September in SW Montana and the leaves are beginning to turn. Rivers are still low from the summer heat and irrigation demands. Yet they are cooling and the bigger browns are beginning to turn into butter yellow specimens preparing for the spawn. Low water and higher temps of the summer have kept some rivers off limits. Our Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks isn’t capricious and its rules as when to close and open stretches of any given river are well documented and adhered to. They do a good job of protecting the trout from the stresses of summer when warranted. As such, one of my favorite stretches of the Big Hole River remained closed to all angling as I headed out on this late September morning. But all was not lost, I was headed to one of the most scenic and idealistic stretches of the Big Hole River—Notch Bottom. It may be one of the most beautiful stretches of Montana trout stream there is. more…

Among the many pleasures of tying your own flies are creating flies that you believe are better examples of a particular insect than the many examples that already exist. It is generally an established fact that some well-known patterns such as the Adams dry fly, elk hair caddis, Royal Wulff, the pheasant tail nymph, and the Prince nymph to name a few are more effective than many others. Creating new patterns is something many, if not all fly tiers do, but many fly tiers also try to make minor changes to the proven fish-catching patterns that could make that fly selected more frequently by trout. I do that a lot though I never have kept track of every change I made and a written record that would support success or failures enough to be able to provide expert testimony on all the results. more…